What you will need:(for two)
2 skinless chicken breasts
4-6 slices of bacon
4 thin slices of brie
1 garlic clove
Mixed herbs or pesto
Half an onion (optional)
Pepper and NO salt (the bacon has enough of that)

Serve with a side veg and either pasta or potatoes or even a nice green salad.

Pre-heat your oven to 200C. Slice the chicken horizontally but make sure you don’t slice all the way through and leave one side attached. Open up the chicken so it looks a bit like a heart and place two slice of brie, half of a chopped garlic, herbs and pepper. Close up the chicken and wrap it with 3 slices of bacon. The bacon will act as a plaster round the slit chicken so that the brie stays in the chicken as much as possible.

Place both chicken breasts in an oven dish.

If you decide to add some sliced onions (does make it yummy) then add just a little olive oil to the onions and with your hands make sure it covers all the onions (this will stop them burning). Then add a tiny bit of water (so it covers about a millimeter of the dish), you don’t need much with this dish as bacon now a days always seems to be full of it.

Place in the oven for about 30 minutes, check on the chicken half way through.

This shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes to prepare. It’s a very easy meal to make and is really full of flavours.

Now this dish is perfect for a BBQ! I first had this when I was in Nicaragua and ended up having it nearly every single night I was there it was so delicious. So obviously when I got home I tried it and it is really simple.

In a blender add all the ingredients (except the beef) and blend. Put the beef in a bowl and a third of the chimichurri mixture to marinate. You can do this the night before or a couple of hours before depending on the time you have. Keep the rest covered in the fridge.

When it’s BBQ day cook the meat. You’ll have to decide on your timings depending on how hot your BBQ is and how red you want your meat but it really doesn’t take long – about 5 minutes on each side (medium rare for me!).

Once your meat is cooked cut it into slices on a large plate and cover it with another third of the chimichurri sauce and serve. The other third is for anyone who might like to add some sauce.

Breadcrumbs are super easy and quick to make. You’ll never buy them again once you’ve made you’re own. An added benefit is that you can add whatever flavour you fancy to your breadcrumbs. I usually add a mix of herbs, garlic and salt and pepper but feel free to be as creative as you want – only thing is your ingredients need to be quite dry so as not to bring moisture to the breadcrumbs.

Are you suffering from a terrible cold?! If so I have the perfect concoction that I make when I’m bunged up and feeling ill. Bear with me, I know it sounds a little unusual BUT I promise it actually tastes ok.

What you will need:Half an onion or 1 small onion chopped in quarters
1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
Half a lemon and it’s juice
3 to 4 cloves
About a thumb’s worth of chopped ginger
1-2 tbsp honey
2 mugs of water

Beat the cold

In a pan add all the ingredients except the honey and bring to a boil. Drain the water into a mug and add the honey. Drink and hopefully you’ll feel better!

Get well!

The benefits of the ingredients:
Onions have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant propertiesGarlic has antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal propertiesCloves have many properties some of them being antioxidant, antiseptic, local anaesthetic and anti-inflammatory (great for those sore throats).Ginger is an antioxidant and has direct anti-inflammatory effectsLemon has many properties, some of which are antibacterial, antiviral, and immune-boosting
Honey antioxidant, soothes and makes the whole drink taste that much better 😉

Violet infusionIf you have a bad cough or cold an infusion of dried violets can also help as they have antifungal, anti-inflammatory, and antiseptic properties.

On Friday evening I went to Greensmith’s where there’s a great butcher. They have really good meat and it’s not over-priced. I decided to get some lamb shank and on Saturday we hade a nice roast. This is usually cooked with red wine but we didn’t have any, so I improvised. This is what I love about cooking, trying out new things, not knowing if it’ll work and when it does feeling proud of my new creation. Now I’m not saying my strange mixture is better than using red wine but it sure is a cheaper version and tastes pretty good.

Heat your oven to 200C
Cut you garlic in two and make holes in the lamb and put your garlic in the holes. Do the same with some rosemary twigs (2 per lamb shank). With some string tie your herbs together – to make a bouquet garni – they will be easier to remove.

I used a normal cooking pot but if you can use anything with a lid that can go in the oven. Put the pot on the hob and add the olive oil, then add the lamb and brown every side. Then add the onions until they start to brown.

Lamb shank

Reduce the heat and add the soy sauce, vinegar, honey, beef stock and bouquet garni. Keep on the hob until the liquid boils, making sure everything is mixed well. Remove from the hob and cover with the lid and place in the oven for 2 hours (if they are large 2h30m). Check the meat half way through.

Remove your pot from the oven and remove your bouquet garni and the rosemary from the lamb. If you want your sauce to be nice and clear (a little messy) you can use a colander to drain the sauce through into a bowl, then pick out and bits of herbs then add the onions to your sauce.

We had yummy cheesy mashed potatoes with this. It all went down a treat and was really easy to make.

Place you lamb shank on some mashed potatoes and pour the sauce over it. Very yummy!

Place all of your spices in a bowl and mix. Slowly add your vinegar. I cant remember exactly how much I used.
You want your spices to look like wet sand/paste so you can rub it on your pork and have it stick.

In a sandwich bag (or bowl) add your chicken, thinly sliced onions and the ingredients (except the oil). This is a bit messy but get your hand in the bag and make sure all the ingredients are mixed together. Close up your sandwich bag (better to place the bag in a bowl) and leave it in the fridge for 20mins – though the longer the better. Preheat your oven to 200C.

Empty all the contents of the bag in an oven dish and pour a little oil over the chicken making sure the onions are covered in oil (you really don’t need to use much). Put the chicken in the oven and after 15mins check that the onions aren’t burning. If they are starting to, stir them a little and leave to cook for a further 15mins.

I had a big salad with the chicken, but there was some left so I brought it to work for my lunch club. Claire had some left-over pasta and they went perfectly together.

For Sarah’s chicken, she lets it marinate for 24 hours (I think) and fries the thighs in oil. Either way is yummy.

Turn the oven on to 200c. Cut the courgettes into slices and put in an oven proof dish, sprinkle cumin seeds, the garlic cut in halves, salt and pepper. Add about three tablespoons of olive oil, make sure it coats all the ingredients. Put the dish in the oven for about 30mins, stir the courgettes every 10 mins.

Once cooked remove from the oven, put into a food blender and add the lemon juice. Blend all the ingredients for a few seconds.

I keep seeing recipes in the papers about cooked fennel. Ok it’s good but I have to say it’s so much better raw and strangely enough people just don’t seem to eat it that way. It’s so fresh and crunchy with aniseedy flavours. I feel that cooking it takes quite a lot away from it.

So it’s quite simple, cut the fennel in half and then slice thinly. Put it in a bowl and add the crushed garlic and half a lemon’s juice. The acid from the lemon juice will start to ‘cook’ the garlic. Mix it all together and then add the olive oil, salt and pepper. Stir it all once more. Then cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This will ensure that all the flavours are properly infused.

Serve as a side salad with anything really 🙂 I think that this is one of my favourite things. Though I have to warn you that I love garlic, so if you are a little afraid of it don’t put too much.